Joe Rudolph shares key to winning Notre Dame's starting guard job

Notre Dame will feature, as usual, a sturdy offensive line anchored by NFL prospect Joe Alt. But beyond Alt, Irish offensive line coach Joe Rudolph is trying to iron out a few other key spots.

As the Irish settle in to fall camp, Rudolph and Co. will be trying to iron our who starts at one of the guard spot. He has three criteria he’s seeking out for a starting offensive guard.

“I’m looking for three things. I’m looking for a guy that can flat out win at the point of attack. You know what I mean? I’m looking for someone that can get their job done in a way where they make the guys around them better. And I’m looking for someone that’s accountable. That knows what to do and how to do it and it’s not correcting things that are controllable,” Rudolph said.

The Irish also open the season with a Week 0 game in Ireland against Navy.

The extra week is giving the Irish even more time to get practice in and hone down who might be in the starting give offensive linemen. Rudolph says he wants to have a decision on that front in the not-too-distant future.

“And absolutely. We’ll wire it in here pretty soon. It’s nice to be starting a little early and you’re trying to figure those things out through your first couple weeks,” Rudolph said.

New Notre Dame assistant Max Bullough got some high praise

Recently, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel praised Notre Dame assistant coach Mike Bullough, calling him one of the smartest players he’d ever coached.

As Bullough’s linebackers coach and defensive coordinator with the Houston Texans, Vrabel knows him well. Interestingly, despite this praise, Bullough wanted to prove that he could succeed outside of football but quickly ended up returning to the game.

“Everyone always said I should coach when I was done playing,” Max Bullough said. “At the time, I thought I could do anything I wanted, so I said I’m gonna prove to you I can do something outside of football, but I tried that for about six months. Nothing really, and I was back in coaching high school.”

In February, Notre Dame hired Max Bullough as an assistant coach working with the linebackers. He had previously been working as an analyst for Alabama. He was brought in, largely, to replace James Laurinaitis, who left for Ohio State, his alma mater.